Royal Oak, MI 1-24-2017 Artist Session & Concert Review

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mitch103
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Royal Oak, MI 1-24-2017 Artist Session & Concert Review

Post by mitch103 »

So I purchased the artist session guitar lesson with Mark. Man what an amazing experience it was! The guitar lesson itself was very cool and I couldn't believe I was hanging out in real life with Mark Tremonti, my ultimate guitar hero lol. He had his prototype PRS custom amp in the room although he didn't play through it during the lesson. He disclosed that it was the main amp he used on the recording of the majority of The Last Hero which I thought was awesome as it is just a 15 watt combo amp. He said that sometime around march the retail model will be announced and is a 15W head. Definitely going to purchase that baby as it will be perfect for a practice and studio amp. Who knows, it might even work out live as well!.

There were 8 of us in the room so it was nice and intimate. I don't mean to toot my own horn here but I was fairly confident I was quite a ways ahead of the other 7 guys in the room. Mark went through more or less a bunch of the stuff featured in his sound and story dvd as well as some licks and techniques I've seen him do live over the years (legato licks, modal shapes, 3 note per string patterns, picking licks, etc.) , all of which I already had pretty much mastered, but I could tell most of the guys were having quite a bit of trouble with. However, he did demonstrate one newer technique I wasn't really familiar and he went around the room one person at a time making sure we each pretty much had a grasp on it slowed way down. I'm looking forward to practicing it and mastering it at home.

Next, we went on stage for the rig tour and unfortunately they were a bit pressed for time as the other two bands had yet to soundcheck and were simply waiting for the rig tour to be over so that the crew could break down the front line of alter bridge's stage setup to begin setting up the other 2 bands setups once alter bridge finished their soundcheck. As far as the live rig tour went, I was already familiar with his setup so nothing new there. I asked him if I could jam a song with the band during their soundcheck but said unfortunately they couldn't spare the time as they needed to focus the limited amount of soundcheck time that they did have with working out what they were going to be playing that night. I was super bummed because I know in the past they let fans that were confident enough to; play with them. Oh well, maybe next time! The real treat however was that Mark was kind enough to let me play through his rig. I was super stoked because he let me use the guitar he currently had plugged in which happened to be none other than the (fucking sick in my opinion) new tremonti concept guitar, the one that looks like a mix between an explorer and a firebird. The black one is the one he had plugged in (I think the original brown one with the stripe he probably keeps at home now?) It was a very interesting feel compared to his main signature models. It is a tad bit lighter, same pickups and bridge but the knobs below the bridge are a bit different setup. Playing through his live rig was pure bliss. The tone is just massive and the response was incredible. I own a Mesa dual rectifier so it did feel pretty similar to playing that, but the added tone of the bogner uberschall really beefs up the tone. I just chugged away for a big and then walked over to the wah set up just to the right of his monitors and stepped on that baby and shredded a few leads before giving back the guitar to mark's tech. An experience of a lifetime for sure!

After the meet and greet we went back outside to wait in line to reenter the venue. Being in the early access line we were able to get in before the rest of the crowd waiting outside and I managed to snag a front row spot right in front of where I knew mark's monitors would be set up. Had a good time waiting and watching the show with a couple really cool people. The girl who's name I don't remember was to my right managed to snag a setlist, guitar pick, and 2 drumsticks! A really cool guy named Steve was to my left and we had some great conversation. He showed me some sweet lyrics tattooed on his arm which he explained to me were dedicated to his wife who passed away a few years back and were very sentimental to him: The chorus of blackbird, and the lyrics to some of In Loving memory which he explained were hand written by Mark a few years back on a piece of paper.

The venue held approximately 1700 I believe and I would venture a guess that there were every bit of 1500 there. Great energy from the crowd and you could tell the band appreciated it. Pretty decent although standard setlist. I managed to get a few photos and Ill attach a couple here. All in all, great concert, great evening. Looking forward to my next Alter Bridge/Tremonti Show. Thanks for reading!


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Last edited by mitch103 on Sat Jan 28, 2017 12:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mikeyd23
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Re: Royal Oak, MI 1-24-2017

Post by mikeyd23 »

Awesome post! Sounds like an amazing experience.

mitch103
Hardcore TABN'er
Posts: 514
Joined: Mon Jun 18, 2012 9:20 am
Location: Ohio

Re: Royal Oak, MI 1-24-2017

Post by mitch103 »

It sure was! Thanks!

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